It Grows on Trees (1952)

Written by CinemaSerf on September 11, 2022

Irene Dunne is "Polly", happily married to "Philip" (Dean Jagger) with two children. They are pretty skint, until - that is - she finds her husband wiping his razor with a new five dollar bill. That is just the start of a series of windfalls that she is determined to capitalise upon, despite the objections of her inherently honest husband. Once we've established the source of the cash, she goes on a spending spree - but then things take an unexpected turn causing her - and her family - quite a bit of distress. Dunne is on good form here and Jagger is also quite entertaining; the writing is not great - it gets a touch frenetic at times, but there is an underlying message about greed that is gently, but potently imparted by director Arthur Lubin. I rather enjoyed the ending - thanks to an enthusiastic journalist, a dedicated botanist and a few pokes at some incompetent government officialdom! It's a short-ish feature, a little bit silly, but I found it quite enjoyable to watch.